Managing metadata for multi-project footage

Hey all!
In my work I shoot a lot of 'stock' footage for use on multiple projects, so descriptive metadata is really important for me to be able to locate appropriate clips when I need them. But since all of this footage isn’t for a specific project, storing them inside a single project inside Premiere Pro CC hasn’t worked well for me. How would you all recommend I organize and add metadata to all of my clips? I tried using bridge, which is my current workflow, but it’s not very flexible, and there’s no way to bulk append metadata to metadata sections without overwriting, which is quite frustrating.
Thanks all!
Paul

Have you used Metadata templates in Bridge? It might be a way to bulk append metada - I just selected multiple Premiere Pro projects in Bridge (in the Metadata work view), went over to the Metadata tab, and there was an Append Metada and Replace Metadata choice available in the UI pulldown.

Howdy Guys! Just tags. I try to keep each clip to just one action or scene, so being able to tag the entire clip would work for me.

So I was applying standard metadata, and didn't realize how keyword tags worked until I was about half way through my main folder, and I think I might have been doing those incorrectly (I didn't separate words with semicolons). So with keywords I can highlight all the ones I want to add a particular keyword to, and then just tick the box, and voila! They're appended! Now I just need to go back and harmonize all my keywords. I have a lot of 'tilt' and 'tilting' and 'swing' and 'swinging' sorts of duplicates.

So Alex, should I plan on primarily relying on keywords for my metadata searching? Just throw everything into them, camera movements, time of day, subjects, etc?
Thanks for your help guys!

That is indeed what I'm discovering! So I've created a Keyword category for camera movement, lens angle, and some general content specifics that I think might be helpful.
But all this has me wondering, are there some tutorials/instructions on best practices with keywording?
Thanks!
Paul

But I think start broad sub levels get more specific. At least they way I think.

Here's a good hint for you.

Bridge can import/export your keyword list as an editable text file.

You can use this to move your list from system to system.

Because when you move to a new system with a fresh copy of bridge, just because your media may have keywords...doesn't mean you will remember what they all are...and this then makes it difficult to search by.

So work to develop a master and keep in the cloud or email or somewhere you can always have access to it.

While I think it's overkill to install it, studying the structure of it is a whole other useful idea. It will give you a way to structure your hierarchical keywords in a way which will make it easier to search for assets.

I have been reading up on your thread the past few days and found it really useful. I agree, Bridge and Premiere seem to have a great theoretical workflow going with Keyword metadata and organizing huge volumes of video clips. (like in Paul's case)

In my situation, I'm organizing a feature doc with about 5 years of footage, and it's definitely coming down to metadata- as a way to organize this huge haystack of material. (more than 3800mov's, 6TB footage folder!) Here's my challenge:

I have been cautiously testing Keyword tagging in Bridge, with all the footage folders of the project already in Premiere. tags show up perfectly, and i'm glad: but the search bin functionality in Premiere leaves a lot to be desired. Firstly! You cannot search by Keyword. Has anyone noticed this? If i add Keywords to the metadada display in the project window, i can use FIND in a rudimentary way, but there tends to be a lot of problems. (false positives from other metadata, like tape name, etc) I wish i could map the "Keyword" schema to something searchable within premiere.

Basically, we're at the last step to being able to search a HUGE volume of media for tags based on characters, locations, etc. So close I can taste it! but right now, i can only search by FIND within bins, not using searchbins.

Does this make sense to you guys? I'm curious since my filmmaking colleagues have no suggestions.